Discussion (135) ¬

There was a scene in one of the Dark Tower books where the gunslinger Roland (who is, at the time, very, very sick) awakens from passing out to discover that Eddie Dean (one of his apprentices) has rigged an incredibly ramshackle stretcher together to drag Roland out of immediate danger.

The first thought Roland had was that his old mentor Cort would have smacked the stretcher apart and Eddie around for such a poor effort: his *second* thought, self-shamefully, would have been that Cort would have actually used some of his rationed praise. The lack of smacking would have been because Eddie actually *did* something to address the problem, instead of just sitting there and whining. The praise would have been because what Eddie did, you know, *worked*.

The Commander is a much better person than either Roland or Cort, but the principle remains sound. :)

The boy get’s exercise, and he’s actually making money at the same time. Why wouldn’t Commander be proud? I have a friend who does this too. She makes a point of actually walking when hatching the eggs. I don’t get it, but she lost that weight she wanted to lose.

THEY! ARE! TEN!
From the time they drop out of school and are kicked out by their parents, they wander the planet. When night falls, often trainers have to hole up for the night, more time than not sleep in the wilderness. What? Why aren’t they attacked at night? I ask you one question:
Would you eat something that has spent much time in sewers, cemeteries, and caves and hasn’t showered once in five years? So what is a little poop collecting on the side much worse?

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I haven’t seen Jared following Mr. Fish around with a shovel in hand anywhere.
…
On second thought, maybe that’s something better left unseen. I wanna keep my Brain Bleach on the shelf for a while longer.

They eat, so they must. Also, anything japanese that gets ported over to America tends to have any poop/ pee/ genitals edited out, regardless of how innocuous it may be, or even if it’s just meant as toilet humor. I don’t know about pokemon, but I know that digimon had at least one instance of poop humor clipped out.

“Poop” is only one way of handling waste products of biology. If there is no waste, there is no need. There are also other ways of handling excess. For example many plants “eat” with their roots, but the closets thing you’ll find to plant poo is dropped foliage. What makes most animal waste dangerous is that it is waste (the biologically useful used and toxins left), plus all the other things that actually like that “waste”, parasites and bacteria. In the case of a Darumaka, what is the “waste” it is expelling, does it have anything toxic to humans? Does it carry any harmful parasites or diseases? It answers are no, then why not use the warm fire poo as hand warmers? If an animal pooped diamonds people would wear them. Ants eat aphid poo, it’s called honeydew.

The danger in waste excrement is first disease (very serious, not joke), second is toxic byproducts or toxins that were filtered and rejected. Diseases are actually the biggest, and very real, part of the danger.

Actually, as far as plats go, they create their own food using sunlight (from their leaves), carbon dioxide (also from their leaves), and water, from their roots, and they excrete oxygen as a byproduct. Their leaves dropping (especially in trees) is them preparing to hibernate in winter.

That’s actually a watered-down (if you’ll pardon the pun) explanation of plant nutrient cycling. In truth, plants harvest compounds required for growth on the cellular level, such as phosphorus, nitrogen, and even certain carbon-based compounds using their root systems as well. They also prioritize system growth on availability of necessities, so plants in wet, nutrient-rich areas will generally have shorter root systems and taller stalks or broader leaves to help compete for ambient light while those in dryer, less nutritious soils will have roots that can stretch to great depths but may have fewer leaves and shorter stalks. *The more you know!*

Like Hubris pointed out, plants don’t eat from their roots, they eat from their leaves (and sometimes stems–but above-ground parts). Roots are involved in collecting nutrients that the plant requires, but the BULK of the plant comes from breaking down carbon dioxide pulled from the air. Oxygen gas is the byproduct of the process, and it needs to be eliminated because it’s actually harmful for the plant. Plants undergo photosynthesis using the protein RuBisCO–the most plentiful protein on Earth by weight. But RuBisCO isn’t very efficient, because it can grab oxygen instead of carbon dioxide–then, instead of producing a sugar for the plant to use, it creates a useless byproduct that needs to be recycled, costing the plant energy.

Plants excrete oxygen gas because it’s a byproduct of photosynthesis that makes photosynthesis harder, and photosynthesis is how plants “eat.”

The main thing (other than nutrients) plants get from their roots is water–which is excreted, but that’s an unwanted side effect. You could compare that to urination in people–our bodies filter out unwanted toxic byproducts (nitrogenous waste) and then push that out of the body by dissolving it in water. We waste a lot of water that way–other animals (eg birds & reptiles) can’t afford to lose that much water, and produce a slightly different product that’s not nearly as water soluble, so their pee’s essentially a solid.

Plants use water to drive photosynthesis (they use it as a source of hydrogen atoms, releasing oxygen) and to transport sugars & other nutrients through the plant–it’s the bulk of the sap, just like water’s the bulk of our blood. Plants need to lose some water through their leaves–it’s evaporation at the top of the tree that pulls water up from the ground, into the roots, and up the rest of the plant, in the process of transpiration. However, they can’t lose too much–then they’d die, without enough water to make their “blood” (phloem/sap) move. A lot of water is lost via photosynthesis–because the plant needs to release the toxic oxygen from the leaves into the air to make respiration work, which means opening up the leaves for the loss of water, too. Plants have evolved several ways around that, but it’s all a complicated balancing act.

I’ve been reading “Reamde” by Neal Stephenson. One of the characters goes from morbidly obese to buffed by doing all his work on a computer while jogging on a treadmill. Works in fiction, doen’t know if it works in real life.

They wouldn’t be buffed, but they’d be fit. You’d drop excess body weight and all cardio related stats would be pretty solid. You’d have good endurance and all that. Picture the kind of person who runs marathons and their kind of physical fitness.

True, the character must have had other equipment attached to the treadmill. I haven’t finished the book yet, it’s 900 pages, that might be too long. I finished “cryptonomicon”, but that wasn’t as long. I recently read “Ready Player One” by Ernest Cline, another virtual reality fantasy novel. That one is being developed for a film.

Yes, IIRC Skeletor was shown to have graduated from his treadmill to a whole bunch more fitness equipment and to be fantastically buff.

I bought a treadmill to use while I watch videos, but it’s awkward to set up and put away again in my room, so I’m not using it. For shame, self! It was working while I was using it every couple of days, though.

Amazon sells treadmill desks, but they’re expensive and, I’ve read, just noisy enough to distract other people in your work environment (unless you’ve got your own office). I’ve asked my manager for a standing desk–apparently, you can reduce your risk of heart disease simply by not sitting all day–and have considered getting a recumbent bike or exercycle for when I’m watching TV or playing video games.

Actually you tend to walk with a standing desk, moving from one end of the desk to another, getting stuff from either end. Although my experience with a standing desk was as a bank teller which is a little different.

if you can get a missingo by doing that i would so do that.
i mean its MISSINGO. Its like god in pokemon…..it can rekt your shit.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
and when i mean shit i mean game cartidge….but hey if my friend screws with me ateast i can set missingo on him.
( fyi this a joke for all those people who lack the humor gland)

I’m wondering if Jared getting in shape is somehow related to the upcoming release of Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby, I don’t have a 3DS myself but damn, if they confirm Mega Sharpedo my childhood might just force me to buy it

You know Jared could wind up accidentally getting a full team from trainers disappointed at their Pokémon having the wrong nature or not being shiny. Though knowing Mr. Fish’s diet that might not last long.

Techincally he DOES cover ground. The walkers(at least the ones I used) usually push you back as you take a step. It would be just like if he took a step forward than one step backwards. Not much of a distance but if he goes at it for long enough…

Ew. No – no no no the Commander by definition is too badass awesome to make that sort of requirement. You have to understand – he’s a COOL dude. He isn’t a cruel dude – because y’know – cruel ain’t cool.

What are you talking about? Mr Fish is Jared’s pokemon. The fact that he doesn’t use a pokeball doesn’t change that. Or are you telling me that you could have 6 pokemon in Yellow while keeping the starting pikachu around?

You still have the Pikachu’s pokeball in Yellow even if it’s not in it most of the time. Mr. Fish was never captured, Jared just picked him up and started beating things over the head with him. Mr. Fish is technically a wild pokemon.

You actually can’t breed Dittos by putting two into the daycare, since they’re genderless. Their Egg Group (what determines what Pokemon a ‘mon can breed with) is its own unique one, and I’m assuming by breeding with other genderless Pokemon it takes on their egg group, which is why that’ll work and not a Ditto/Ditto relationship.

You know, the honorary professorship thing may have been a one-off gag, but Jared’s actually damn good with Pokemon (and animals in general). He managed to capture about twenty Magnemite and Magneton without using a single pokeball, had a Magikarp as a starter and actually got somewhere with it, managed to organize pigeons (whatever that means), and apparently managed to encounter Mew via dumb luck. The guy may not be a Pokemon master, but he’s pretty adept at caring for his critters.